The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt overcame deep skepticism about its size to become the top-scoring fighter in the entire European theater of World War II.
TaildraggerThe Galesburg Stearman Fly-In brings hundreds of Boeing PT-17 Kaydets to western Illinois each September in one of general aviation's most celebrated single-type gatherings.
RampThe USAF Heritage Flight program pairs privately-owned WWII warbirds with active-duty jets at airshows, bridging eighty years of American airpower since 1997.
TowerHow an 18-year grassroots restoration brought Doc, a 1944 B-29 Superfortress, from a desert weapons range back to airworthy flight over Wichita.
TaildraggerThe Vought F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing solved a critical propeller clearance problem - and gave the Marines their most iconic fighter of World War II.
TaildraggerThe B-29 Doc sat abandoned in a California desert for four decades before a 16-year volunteer effort brought it back to flight over Wichita in 2016.
TaildraggerThe Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the most produced American fighter of World War II - a massive, punishment-absorbing machine that brought pilots home when nothing else could.
TaildraggerHow a B-29 named Doc went from a Mojave bombing target to one of only two airworthy Superfortresses, restored by the town that built her.
TaildraggerThe 1942 Doolittle Raid launched 16 B-25 bombers off the USS Hornet to strike Tokyo, a mission that reshaped the Pacific war.
TaildraggerHow the P-51 Mustang's Merlin engine and 1,100-mile range broke the Luftwaffe and rescued Allied strategic bombing from catastrophic failure in 1944.
TaildraggerThe F4U Corsair went from Navy reject to one of WWII's most feared fighters - built around a massive engine, refined by Marines, and flying combat missions into 1969.
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